''Actinostrobus arenarius'' is a species of

conifer Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...

in the cypress family,

Cupressaceae Cupressaceae or the cypress family is a family of conifers. The family includes 27–30 genera (17 monotypic), which include the junipers and redwoods, with about 130–140 species in total. They are monoecious, subdioecious or (rarely) dioecio ...

. Its common names include sandplain cypress,Eckenwalder, J.E. 2009. ''Conifers of the World: The Complete Reference''. Timber Press. p. 123 Bruce cypress, Bruce cypress-pine, and tamin.''Actinostrobus arenarius''.
The Gymnosperm Database. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. This species is a

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

or a

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

growing up to tall. It has spreading branches with small branchlets. The scale-like, gray-green leaves are up to long and grow in threes. The cylindrical male cones are up to half a centimeter long. The female cones are up to long with pointed scales. They contain winged seeds. Western Australian State Botanist Charles Gardner described the species in 1964, from a specimen collected at

Tammin, Western Australia Tammin is a town in the central agricultural region of Western Australia, east of Perth and midway between the towns of Cunderdin and Kellerberrin on the Great Eastern Highway. The surrounding areas produce wheat and other cereal crops. The ...

. The species name is derived from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word ''arena'' "sand", relating to where the sandplain cypress grows. A 2010 study of the genera ''Actinostrobus'' and ''Callitris'' found that all three species of ''Actinostrobus'' lay within the current concept of ''Callitris'' based on analysis of 42 morphological and anatomical characters, hence ''Actinostrobus arenarius'' was renamed ''Callitris arenaria''.Piggin, J., and Bruhl, J.J. (2010)

Phylogeny reconstruction of ''Callitris'' Vent. (Cupressaceae) and its allies leads to inclusion of ''Actinostrobus'' within ''Callitris''. ''Australian Systematic Botany'' 23: 69-93. This plant grows in colonies on sandplains, as part of a low scrubby plant community known as

kwongan Kwongan is a plant community found in south-western Western Australia. The name is a Bibulman Aboriginal term of wide geographical use defined by Beard (1976) as Kwongan has replaced other terms applied by European botanists such as sand-h ...

; associated plant species include

proteaceae The Proteaceae form a family (biology), family of flowering plants predominantly distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises 83 genus, genera with about 1,660 known species. Australia and South Africa have the greatest concentr ...

of the genus ''

Banksia ''Banksia'' is a genus of around 170 species of flowering plants in the family Proteaceae. These Australian wildflowers and popular garden plants are easily recognised by their characteristic flower spikes, and woody fruiting "cones" and head ...

'', ''

Conospermum ''Conospermum'' is a genus of about 50 species of flowering plants in the family Proteaceae that are endemic to Australia. Members of the genus are known as smokebushes - from a distance, their wispy heads of blue or grey flowers resemble puff ...

'', ''

Grevillea ''Grevillea'' (), commonly known as spider flowers, is a genus of about 360 species of evergreen flowering plants in the family Proteaceae. Plants in the genus ''Grevillea'' are shrubs, rarely trees, with the leaves arranged alternately along the ...

'' and ''

Hakea ''Hakea'' ( ) is a genus of about 150 species of flowering plants in the family ''Proteaceae'', endemic to Australia. They are shrubs or small trees with leaves that are sometimes flat, otherwise circular in cross section in which case they are s ...

'',

myrtaceae Myrtaceae (), the myrtle family, is a family of dicotyledonous plants placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, pōhutukawa, bay rum tree, clove, guava, acca (feijoa), allspice, and eucalyptus are some notable members of this group. All ...

of the genus ''

Melaleuca ''Melaleuca'' () is a genus of nearly 300 species of plants in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, commonly known as paperbarks, honey-myrtles, bottlebrushes or tea-trees (although the last name is also applied to species of '' Leptospermum''). They ...

'', various ''

Acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as wattles or acacias, is a genus of about of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa, South America, and Austral ...

'' species and the conifers '' Callitris preissii'' and '' C. roei''. Some of its habitat has been degraded or destroyed, but the plant is still widespread and grows in several protected areas. It is found from Lake Grace north to the Murchison River. The Bruce cypress colonises disturbed areas, forming stands on road verges and areas cleared for agriculture.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2688674 arenarius Pinales of Australia Least concern flora of Australia Flora of Western Australia Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Charles Gardner Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN